1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pacifier and nipple designed for use with premature and other low-birth-weight infants.
2. Background
It is known that supplemental non-nutritive sucking, in addition to that required for feeding, can help to soothe an infant. Researchers have discovered that there is a clear reflex connection between the hand and mouth of a human fetus as early as 12-14 weeks after conception, and that thumb sucking in utero is common. After birth, many infants continue to soothe themselves by sucking on their thumbs or fingers. A newborn's ability to get his hands up to his mouth and suck is seen as a positive ability of the infant to organize himself in a self-soothing way. This helps establish the infant's ability to independently cope with stress and frustration. In order to provide the pacifying effects of this type of oral stimulation, commercial pacifiers have been used for years by many grateful parents and health care personnel caring for infants. Developmental effects of early thumb sucking are hypothesized, but very little is known about them.
To take advantage of the soothing effect that sucking has on an infant, pacifiers of various shapes and sizes have been developed. None, however, is known which adequately meets the needs of the premature or low-birth-weight ("LBW", below 5000 grams) infant. These infants, which can weigh as little as 1000 grams or less, have particular need for a suitable pacifier, because they often have difficulty getting thumb to mouth due to their underdevelopment in light of the premature loss of the buoyant assistance received from the amniotic fluid in utero.
There is a need for an effective pacifier designed for LBW and very-low-birth-weight infants. Prior pacifiers are generally very large compared to a LBW infant's mouth, and most which are targeted for premature or newborn babies are merely scaled down versions of the larger pacifiers, with no features designed to meet the special needs of LBW babies.
One commercially available pacifier which is known to be advertised as designed specifically for premature infants is distributed by DHD Medical Products and appears to be constructed in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,379. The nipple design of the DHD pacifier is generally similar to that shown in FIG. 5 of the cited patent and is depicted in FIG. 4A of this patent. While the DHD nipple is smaller than most currently available alternatives, it has proven difficult to use in practice, and it does not provide the palatal stimulation of the invention disclosed herein.
There are other pacifiers on the market which are designed or advertised for use with newborns or premature infants. None of these prior art pacifiers, however, employ the unique features of this invention. No prior art is known which embodies or discloses a pacifier designed to replicate the palatal stimulation which an infant receives by sucking its thumb, and which is sized based on measurements taken of the thumbs of LBW infants.